Defunition

Defunition is the internet's less serious cousin to the Oxford dictionary. The premise is simple: anyone can submit an alternative, humorous, or crowd-sourced definition for any word or phrase — and the community decides which ones rise to the top. Think Urban Dictionary, but with a cleaner interface, a fairer voting model, and a merch store baked in.

Submissions go through a lightweight moderation queue before becoming publicly visible. Once live, each definition can be upvoted or downvoted by signed-in users. The ranking algorithm weights recency alongside vote score, so fresh entries from active words stay competitive against older definitions that have accumulated votes over time.

Search is the primary entry point. The search bar queries across word titles and definition bodies simultaneously, returning ranked results as you type. Clicking a word opens its definition page showing all community submissions sorted by score, with the top-ranked entry prominently displayed.

The merchandise store is directly integrated into the dictionary experience. Popular words and phrases can be printed onto products — t-shirts, mugs, tote bags — and ordered without leaving the site. Each product page pulls the word, its top definition, and applies it to a mockup preview so buyers see exactly what they're getting before checkout.

User accounts are intentionally minimal. Sign up with an email, pick a username, and you can immediately submit definitions and vote. There are no follower graphs or social feeds — the content is the community, not the profiles behind it.

Tech Stack

Next.js, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Prisma, PostgreSQL, Stripe, Resend, Vercel